Training & Recovery

Ride Hard, Recover Harder

If you’re hammering every day, you’re probably holding yourself back. Here’s how to not go all-out just right.

anne stein

Rest, Actively
In a well-thought-out training plan, rest usually doesn’t mean doing nothing. In fact, many coaches prefer low-effort workouts to total rest on off or easy days to get blood circulating and reduce inflammation so you’re primed for your next ride.

Another form of active rest is the postride cooldown at the end of a long or hard effort. Easing up on the pedals enhances blood flow to help flush your legs of lactic acid (a waste product of exercise) and fuel your depleted muscles. A study in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found that when cyclists did a 15-minute cooldown spin at 30 percent of their VO2 max after a hard effort, they were able to perform almost as well 24 hours later on an identical strenuous workout.

DO IT: Plan active workouts for the day after a high-mileage weekend, a hard interval session, or a race. For these rides, the trick is to go deliberately—borderline embarrassingly—slow. Cheung describes it as letting-your-grandmother-beat-you easy. And you don’t have to limit yourself to the bike; walking, easy swimming, or light jogging count. As for a cooldown, dial your effort back to a pedal-to-the-coffee-shop intensity during the last five to 10 minutes of your ride, says Cheung. Keep power and resistance low, heart rate slightly elevated.

Get a Massage
A postride rubdown helps increase circulation and clear muscles of lactic acid, says Reed McCalvin, head soigneur for Team Bontrager-Livestrong. It also reduces adhesions, or knots, that make movement less efficient and more painful. What’s more, science has linked massage to improved muscle function. In a study on cyclists who got a massage on only one leg, biopsies showed greater muscle regeneration in the treated leg. And researchers in Canada found that postexercise massage reduced inflammation and promoted the growth of new mitochondria—the parts of your cells that produce power.

There’s also a mental benefit to massage, says Testa. Numerous studies have shown that it lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is released during hard efforts. “If your brain remains in fighting mode,” says Testa, “it slows your recovery.” Excess ­cortisol has been linked to overtraining syndrome and can lead to a host of problems including irritability, weight gain, and muscle loss.

DO IT: No soigneur on your payroll? You can buy a foam roller at most sporting-goods stores and use it after a ride or any time in between. Rest your leg muscles and glutes on the cylinder and roll slowly back and forth, pausing and pressing into the sorest spots for 30 to 45 seconds. For hard-to-reach areas such as shoulder blades and other parts of your back, lean against a tennis ball on the wall.